Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell likes the holidays just as much as anyone, but it's a bit more complicated for him. He told ELLE.com that while he relaxes on a rare off day from touring for his band's new album, Mirage Rock, this time of year means he'll be too busy to play music. And that bums him out. "There will be no spazzing out with GarageBand," he said ruefully of impending family time. "So I'm playing guitar a lot now while I can."

But there's still music to be played this year: Bridwell and his band are set to perform a double-header gig tonight at Manhattan City Center—an acoustic show in the Grand Ballroom and an electric set later in the Hammerstein Ballroom. To mark the occasion, we chatted with Bridwell about everything from his relief at not being nominated for a Grammy to his "deliberately ugly" fashion sense.

ELLE: How's Band of Horses's tour going?

Ben Bridwell: We just got back from a European and a U.K. leg. That was a lot busier than our last little trek before the end of the year. We actually had a couple of good days off sprinkled throughout. So I'm actually just chilling on a day off in Portland, Maine, and enjoying myself quite nicely. It feels like a really good way to wrap things up [this year].

ELLE: What do you usually do on your off days?

BB: I tend to go straight to the hotel as soon as possible and get a room that's away from any other people. I try to write and cover songs or something. Like the first day of our European leg, we were in an Italian hotel room. I was watching a football game—luckily streaming on the Internet—while I was covering the Townes Van Zandt song ["Don't You Take It Too Bad"]. I'm basically playing guitar while writing songs the whole time. I don't know if it's a slight agoraphobia thing, or if I convince myself that I need to work so there's no way I'll have to go speak [a different] language and get lost or something. [Laughs]

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ELLE: So you're always writing?

BB: Oh yeah, man. I'll even write the stupidest song I can think of just to get the monkey off my back or something. But it's funny, even with the last record, there was so much material to choose from that I also had this extra baggage weighing down on me.

ELLE: How are the songs from Mirage Rock fitting into the live set?

BB: There was definitely initial concern that some songs were just for the album, and wouldn't need to be recreated live. A song like the last one on the new album, "Heartbreak on the 101," is a weird thing to [do] live. But we always embrace it. You have the chance to reinvent songs, as well. It feels like it breathes new life into them. [The new songs] seem to fit surprisingly well into the whole catalog of songs that we put into the show.

ELLE: For Mirage Rock, you worked with producer Glyn Johns, who has recorded with everyone from The Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin. That must have been outstanding.

BB: Oh, man. No doubt about that. It still feels like a crazy dream that we'd actually get the opportunity to work with someone of that stature. Just the friendship that I made with Glyn is pretty awesome. He's an institution of rock 'n' roll knowledge. It's not lost on me the heaviness of having that dude as a buddy.

ELLE: As someone who writes with a very personal bent, how is it to have your work critiqued?

BB: It's a constant battle of being absolutely proud of the work that we did and being mortified that people get to critique and dissect it. So it's tough. But that first week [after an album is released], I always tend to shut down emotionally. [I] just to try to have a thick skin when it comes to that stuff. [I] go back and forth: [I] stand behind the work but then [I'm] like 'Shoot, I could have done something different.'

ELLE: We were a little bummed to learn that Mirage Rock was not nominated for a Grammy Award this year.

BB: Surprisingly, when I saw the nominations the other day, I felt a sense of relief. I was genuinely relieved that we weren't on that list, because it kind of feels like a slate-cleaning thing for me. At least we know there's no pressure. I feel kind of awesome about it. It just keeps me hungry, you know? It would be cool if it were the other way, but I feel kind of fortunate that it didn't happen this year. I feel like I have a chance to get weirder.

ELLE: And lastly, because we're ELLE, we must ask: How would you define your personal sense of style?

BB: I think "deliberately ugly" probably is the easiest way to sum it up—especially because I'm not the most comfortable person in a frontman role. There's a lot of anxiety that goes along with performing. Everyone has cameras, and I'm not a dude who likes to even be in pictures. It's funny, I've embraced this element of "deliberate ugliness." It takes out all of the anxiety of what I look like. I don't know if it comes with age or something. I'm married. I don't care.

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